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Post by noah shain on Sept 4, 2013 10:33:46 GMT -6
Hey all I was forced by circumstance to do a few albums in a studio with a tiny live space...about 12x15 with 8 foot drop ceiling with about 2 feet of empty space between the drop tiles an the hard ceiling above. It was the surround room on the second floor of the old Motown West/Signet Sound studio in LA. Amazing control room and tiny little office for tracking. We draped a few heavy packing blankets on the ceiling and went to town. As I recall the mic ing was pretty straight forward. I used mostly short, filtered delays to create size (which is standard practice for me) and a hallway mic that came in and out at mix.
I also put 2 snares on the floor with strainers facing each other and set a 58 on the ground between them. Distressor!! In mix I triggered a gate with the snare to open and close that mic. I've since refined the technique a bit but that has become standard practice for me. It can be a gorgeous snare verb or whole kit sometimes.
We did this whole album there. And a few others!
Sorry about the spotify link.
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Post by noah shain on Aug 9, 2013 3:34:51 GMT -6
I use the Brainworx m/s EQ thing a lot. When in mixing stuff that I didn't record or produce. Sometimes "stereo" synths or pads are just barely stereo...like a lot of the information is actually mono or in the middle. You can use the m/s EQ to treat just the center channel and get some muck out of the way of the vocal or snare or whatever is there but the sides of the signal stay true to the original sound. Used judiciously it can be quite effective. Sometimes it's pretty cool to really tweak a sound and let it get phasey...mono be damned. Make em twist their heads around!!!
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Post by noah shain on Aug 8, 2013 19:43:39 GMT -6
I've talked to so many techs and designers about an idea like it and yeah, they all say the same thing...that kind if thing is expensive and hard to make money on. The people who want/need it can't afford it. I'm sure it'll find it's niche... It's so cool...
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Post by noah shain on Aug 5, 2013 9:30:05 GMT -6
Hey Jordan - and anyone that's interested. I can put you in touch with a guy here that built mine. Incredible build. He's a tech guy for a local amp company here. $100 a module. That's freaking dirt cheap. I contacted him and asked him if he would be cool with me putting peeps in touch and he's game for doing a couple or more a week. Pm me for info. Man...I wanna know that guy!!
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Post by noah shain on Aug 5, 2013 9:26:25 GMT -6
I love my Lolas! I use them in a passive summing rig along with Great Rivers, VP28, AWATC. They're fat, fast and open. Killer. Mine have Hardy 990s in em. I love em on drums and vocals.
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Post by noah shain on Aug 3, 2013 22:26:29 GMT -6
I'm gonna invite Adam over Good call
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Post by noah shain on Aug 3, 2013 12:46:06 GMT -6
I've had some success using short stereo delays spread wide to add some size. Sometimes distorted delay. Sometimes just sending snare, sometimes overheads. Getting the timing right is crucial. If you mess with the delay time you can push it or pull it a bit and give the impression that the drummer is more laid back or maybe that he's pushing. You gotta be subtle but it can be great. Sometimes it doesn't work.
As far as room mics I go back and forth. A smooth mono room with a good balance of drums to cymbals can really be special. I often have to move it a few times to find the right balance. When you dial in a good compressor setting it can be just magic. When I get it right I find it being the main "visual" for the kit. Meaning it gives you a good picture of the drums but isn't supplying all the impact and space...just a great vibe definition.
Stereo rooms often seem to end up really low in my mixes...like so low you can't hear em but you miss them when they're gone. Also cool to keep them low in some sections and raise them for sections where you wanna add a little excitement or spread or to help get the detail of the high part of the kit to cut through a dense wall of guitar or synth.
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Post by noah shain on Aug 3, 2013 12:02:53 GMT -6
You should get in the Google Search . Yeah theres a chance of getting bad members , but also alot of good ones too . BUY IT FROM ME! I ONLY CARRY 14 PRO AUDIO BRANDS AND THEY'RE ALL THE BEST ONES! SLATE SSL LYNX ADESIGNS PELUSO Shit I better stop it's getting too obvious, I must have flagged every post with the mods. War @ Zenpro will always stand head and shoulders above the rest of the slop. Adam at DSP Doctor has been great to deal with. Above and beyond with support, advice and service. Smart and a gentleman.
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Post by noah shain on Aug 2, 2013 2:44:25 GMT -6
Yes This seems good
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Post by noah shain on Aug 1, 2013 17:30:06 GMT -6
...who have an aggressive negative tone to their posts? Who are belligerent, condescending, rude, ignorant and bitter as they off handedly dismiss any idea that they don't understand... Isn't it cool they aren't here?!?! I know this isn't the right section for this post...sorry if I'm being inappropriate. I'm just happy about it! I think I can speak for others and say that the whole belligerent/aggressive thing will be strongly discouraged here. And: welcome! Thank you! I'm so glad to be here. I am, by nature, an enthusiastic and earnest person. Those very 2 qualities seem to make a person a target for holier than thou negative attacks on some audio forums. It's so weird to me. I wonder how that whole attitude started? It's as if its considered the proper way to communicate when discussing recording and recording equipment. It's a bummer. I'm glad it's gonna be discouraged here...it totally works against the proliferation of good information and free exchange of ideas. Feels like football practice or something.
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Post by noah shain on Aug 1, 2013 14:44:24 GMT -6
...who have an aggressive negative tone to their posts? Who are belligerent, condescending, rude, ignorant and bitter as they off handedly dismiss any idea that they don't understand... Isn't it cool they aren't here?!?!
I know this isn't the right section for this post...sorry if I'm being inappropriate.
I'm just happy about it!
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Post by noah shain on Aug 1, 2013 2:48:49 GMT -6
I use 8 passive summing busses. I send groups of stuff to different busses (like you might on a console), make up amps, comps and EQ and then I sum all those busses on 1 final passive bus that becomes the 2 buss. It's all on a patchbay with some half normaling and Redco mult boxes so I end up having access to mults and parallel processing in the analog domain. It's really fun and sounds f___ng amazing...when I get it right. Passive summing gets a bad rap and honestly, just hitting one buss didn't do much for me but this system is really kick a$$ and if you chose the make up gain amps well you can really get it to saturate and bend in a cool way. I been trying to talk someone else into it for months. I'm pretty sure most people just think I'm crazy but I swear it rocks. It's the ultimate hybrid rig! Do it!
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Post by noah shain on Jul 31, 2013 10:00:02 GMT -6
THAT is good to know. Thank you. The other concern I have, and you might know this, is... The PM1K fader stem is offset (so the slit in the faceplate is offset from the actual center of the mounting holes)and in the catalogue the P&G are dead center. Is there an option for that? I can't find one online but its a very mysterious topic, faders.
Thanks
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Post by noah shain on Jul 31, 2013 9:20:57 GMT -6
Has anyone ever put new faders in a PM1000? What did you use? Did you have to drill new holes or anything? The 83 mil P&G seems like it will actually line up with existing holes. Don't let me ruin my little class A discreet console.
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Post by noah shain on Jul 30, 2013 15:56:32 GMT -6
LA, CA. USA
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Post by noah shain on Jul 29, 2013 14:11:40 GMT -6
It's my kind of music...He's dreamy Anyway - sounds great, Noah! Hahahahaha!!! Thank you sir. The album debuted at #10 last week so... Thumbs up Electra.
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Post by noah shain on Jul 29, 2013 13:17:35 GMT -6
Ha!!!! It's not the kind of music I listen to either!!!!!
Well I might pull up a new session and start balancing with the Electra engaged but I seem to remember all EQ and compression getting turned off and reset for the particular song. This album was 10 beat makers in different cities and all vocals recorded in different sessions at different times and with a lot of noise and bad edits and inconsistencies. It was an exceedingly difficult album.
I'd say that the Electra was fantastic at adding top end air while sculpting the bottom and scooping the mids at the same time.
It's a real tone shaper for sure.
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Post by noah shain on Jul 29, 2013 11:18:44 GMT -6
Frank, What happens if the controls aren't stepped? Does the mix totally fall apart if the left is boosted at 5.1 dB and the right is boosted at 5.3dB? While I agree that stepped controls are great, what's wrong with just pointing the knobs in the same direction and just going with it?. You may be missing out on some great pieces by limiting yourself to only stepped gear. Noah--that's really interesting that you start at the top of the range and sweep down. I tend to start at the bottom and sweep up. I can see how working from the top would indeed cause you to have bigger boosts. You are probably getting more of an upward lift that extends into the ultrasonics whereas I like to hear the plateau in the high frequencies. I'm glad it's really working for you! Any links you can share of songs you've mixed like this? I've heard the Electra up against a Bax in a mastering session. The low end in the Electra was nicer IMO...less build up in the lower mids. In the high end both were equally good. The Electra felt like it had a finer degree of detail in the air frequencies to my ears. But it was really subjective hair splitting. Brad Well I bought the Electra while I was in a tough spot on a song that was poorly recorded. I was out of EQ and I needed something for the 2 bus that wouldn't break the bank. I literally got out of my chair, drove to Pro Audio LA, bought a pair, threw em in the rack and printed the mix that ended up being the single for the album. This wasn't electra on vocal, this was on 2 bus. I didn't write or produce or record the song guys, have mercy on me. I'm just a mixer trying to pay the bills. The Electra ended up on bus duties for the rest of this album as I had already built a vocal chain that was working for this singer. The Electra pair usually ended up on ACG bus because the acoustics were not well recorded and were missing a lot of info in the upper area and were boomy below and the Electra is an excellent bottom shaper. I'd say I had high pass engaged on every song. Using the high pass and shaping with the low and low mid bands is a very strong feature of the Electra. I'm 2 songs away from finishing an album with the Electra on vocals. It's a baby artist on a major so I'd be in trouble if I leaked the songs here but as soon as its released ill put it up. I did a parallel treatment using 2 mults of the lead vocal and 3 different treatments, 2 of which include electras in the manner I described above. These were female pop vocal so again they needed to really sparkle on top but stay smooth. BTW I had a BAX in my studio for 6 weeks. I loved it but its gone. Electra is still there. I may get the Bax back one day but I will probably get another pair of electras as well.
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Post by noah shain on Jul 28, 2013 14:06:59 GMT -6
Hi Noah! Where do you typically find yourself pointing the frequency knob on the high shelf of the Electra when doing vocals? That high shelf is the antidote to dark, dull, or boring sound IMHO. Even if you just leave it at its lowest or near lowest frequency setting its pretty hard to go wrong. One of these days I swear I'm going to make some custom Electra faceplates just so I have frequency labels. Ha. Brad Hey Brad! I agree it's pretty sweet all the way through the bands. Freq labels wouldn't kill me but I kinda like being forced to work by ear only. It feels like ear training like you might do for harmony singing or something. Dork alert!!! The way I seem to be using the top shelf is I go to the top of the band and crank the gain a hundred percent then I start to bring the freq point down until it starts to get harsh and then I'll start backing off the gain and tweaking the freq point up and down until I fall in to a sweet spot. It's usually past halfway, probably more like 3 quarters and above but I'm adding a lot of gain. Then I work the mids with the next band. I'd guess I'm somewhere between 8 and 12k. Still working on the ear training!! It's kinda the way I've always tweaked EQ but I seem to be able to get the freq point lower and the gain higher with the Electra than I can with 1. Any plug at all or 2. Other hardware. I've been doing mostly pop lately and the vocal has to be BRIGHT and clear but it can't be harsh or sibilant and the battle is never ending. I gotta say the Electra excels here. So much so that I've only used it on a couple other sources (once on the master bus). It is parked on vocal channels. I have a pair and I'll get more. My assistant just finally bugged kush so much that we got some recall sheets too. He was sick of drawing em. They weren't up on line. If any body needs em hit me with your email and I'll pass em on.
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Post by noah shain on Jul 28, 2013 10:52:13 GMT -6
I'm in Brad.
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Post by noah shain on Jul 28, 2013 10:44:38 GMT -6
Hey all I have a pair of electras and a pair of Maag EQ 4 and both are stellar. The Maags have fixed points everywhere except the air band in top and the electras are sweepable on all the bands. I use both in one way or another on every mix I do and both have become indispensable. If I had to mix without either of them I'd be so bummed.
Great products both.
With my Electra on vocals I often find the high band cranked all the way up...buried. It's just sweet up there.
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Post by noah shain on Jul 23, 2013 21:36:26 GMT -6
I'm just gonna punch myself in the face every 30 seconds until I get one of these. It hurts less than waiting and gets my mind off of how much I'm jonseing for it.
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